Telescope view of the moon reminds sightseers at the National Park Service's new
visitor center of the monument's resemblance to a moonscape (compare page 518).
because the shapes of the craters we see
through telescopes closely resemble the vol
canic basins we call calderas. Those are the
enormous round depressions that are most
prominent.
"There are no calderas in Craters of the
Moon National Monument," Dr. Green con
tinued, "but many of the features here very
closely resemble things we see in the dark
areas of the moon-in the 'seas.' "
Dr. Green had climbed all over the monu
ment and was enthusiastic.
"The features are especially interesting be
cause they are comparatively recent and
nearly as well preserved in this climate as we
might expect to find them on the moon."
Park Chosen as Set for Horror Film
Another day I met a film producer who had
permission from the National Park Service to
make a movie at Craters of the Moon.
"The script calls for a monster, and this
looks like the natural place for it," he said.
"Where else can you find scenery so wild,
so black, so bleak?"
Little did he suspect how full of healthy
life Craters of the Moon really is. Flies buzz
over the lava flows. Butterflies and bees
516
make the rounds of the many-colored wild
flowers that bloom in June in the "cinder
gardens" (pages 522-3).
"Nature shows special ingenuity here,"
Pete explained to me.
"The dwarf buck
wheat, for instance. Thousands of tiny hairs
sprout on each leaf; these form dead-air
spaces to conserve moisture that would other
wise evaporate. And if the wind blows a lim
ber pine over, the shallow roots may bend
with the fall and keep the tree alive."
One day Pete took us to the cave area,
laced with a veritable subway system of lava
tubes. These sprawling passages resulted when
streams of hot lava formed firm crusts on their
surfaces, much as ice forms on the surface
of a stream. Underneath the crust the lava
kept flowing; when all the liquid had drained
away, empty tubes and caverns remained.
Entrances are usually holes where the roof
has fallen in.
These tubes extend downward only about
30 feet, but they vary greatly in size. I
looked into one only two feet in diameter and
walked through the biggest one: Indian Tun
nel, measuring 100 feet across its floor, is 800
feet long. For a long time I stood on the
floor of Great Owl Cavern, one of the world's